Wow, That’s A Promotion

By Steve Poftak
March 12th, 2010

MIT’s Professor Peter Diamond, a well-regarded authority on employee benefits, spent some quality time last year on the Commonwealth’s Special Commission on Pension Reform. I went to every meeting and attempted to chronicle that effort.

One of the lowlights of those meetings was PERAC Executive Director Joseph Connarton’s crude mocking of the Professor at one point. It was all part of the odd dynamic in that room — the central conflict was between Connarton (who is appointed by a board that has several gubernatorial appointees) and Commission Chair Alicia Munnell and Professor Diamond (both appointed by the Governor).

Well, it seems that Diamond is going to be ok. Obama is going to appoint him to the Federal Reserve.